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The Government Makes It Harder for the Formerly Incarcerated to Be Good Citizens
(www.thedailybeast.com)
this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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politics
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You would think that an idea to reduce recidivism and thus reduce crime, like rehabilitation over punishment, would be popular in a democratic system, it's a real problem that it isn't. A bunch of states are dealing with this as there's a backlash for bail reform.
People just think punishing crime more reduces crime more and it's not (necessarily) correct. And in a democratic system we reward what people think is true over what is true.
This is one of those rare instances that (to them) punishment is openly the point. It doesn't matter that there are ways to save money and increase everyone's quality of life in the process. And it doesn't hurt that an entire industry has grown to steal money from the state to punish these people and a small portion is put back into advertising/lobbying to make sure the cycle continues.
You can thank the Prison Industrial Complex for sponsoring the Republican "Tough on Crime" propaganda. Reactionary idiots think there's a one step solution to all of society's ills, and if it doesn't work, it's the other political party that made it fail!
Dems are fully on board with the tough on crime bullshit, even if they do stand against discriminatory punishment. They want to be tough on everyone equally.
In addition to people somewhat naturally wanting to punish crime, A lot of people like to feel superior to others in any way they can. That way they can be internally excuse their own shortcomings.
Ex: I may be unsuccessful but at least I'm not a druggie, criminal, black, or a heathen. Too many Americans would rather hate and suppress someone in different circumstances rather than help them out.
It's definitely not popular when prisoners are the only people we can legally treat as slaves.
It's very sad that in the US we have a justice system for protecting the rich and a revenge system for punishing everyone else.
I'm afraid a lot of people don't even care if it's working - they just think being "though on crime" makes society masculine and cool (and preferably white). They'd vote for it even if they knew it's bad policy.
I got my first degree in criminology and can assure you that science has known since the late 70's that increased punishment and harsher prison environments causes more crime.
Criminals do not weigh things logically before deciding to do crime. It's environmental and cultural.